He's mostly right on.

Submitted by Al (United States), Jan 6, 2009 at 19:41

Sorry Daniel, but Kunstler has been way ahead of his time for a number of years now. I won't try to defend or explain him unless you've read "The Long Emergency," since it hits 100 nails right on the head.

The interesting thing, is that his futuristic visions (which are all based on hard documented evidence) are a positive hope for Israel. Even Carolyn Glick's commentary today about Iran opting out and sacrificing Hamas relates to everything Kunstler discusses, to give you an example of the connections I saw months ago. In this case, Iran is totally dependent on high oil prices, and when it drops below around $80 they can't support their proxies anymore. This is true of the other OPEC countries also.

Low oil prices help Israel by reducing Muslim petrodollar investments in warfare and terrorism. But oil depletion (i.e. peak oil) is here now and will put upward pressure on oil prices. But high oil prices were a contributing factor to the currrent world recession for a lot of direct and indirect reasons. Hence the imploded prices dropping 65% in six months have slammed Iran, the Saudis, Russia (Iran's weapons suppliers,) and Venezuela (an Iran ally.)

Israel, I believe, is aware of most of what Kunstler has written, since it is on top of the alternative energy movement in R&D. As long as it can keep its energy consumption down with high-tech and keep a focus on creating and selling energy-saving technologies to its allies, as it does water desalinization, it can outlast the coming Islamic implosions. As I write, both India and Pakistan have had mandatory daily 6-8 hour blackouts (called "load-shedding") due to their running low on fuel for electricity. And look at what's happening to Europe right now because of energy.

Regardless if any of that made sense, its the kind of thought processes that happen when you read "The Long Emergency" along with some other related books, such as "Resource Wars," "Plan B 3.0", and the other Peak-oil related topics. Hamas will lose this war because the OPEC countries can't afford their wars agains the West. Israel, being a small and intellectual country, can survive. You and Kunstler are among my top 10 visionaries.

Mike

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